Bats go silent again as Yankees drop the series finale to Cubs

New York—The Yankees' bats went quiet for the second day in a row as they dropped this one 4-1 to the Cubs and lost the series. Will Warren got the starting nod for the Yankees, and Shota Imanaga took the mound for the Cubs. 

On the second pitch of the game, Warren served up a home run to Michael Bush to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead. 

Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, and Aaron Judge went down in order for the Yankees in the bottom of the first inning. 

Giancorlo Stanton led off the bottom of the third inning with his third home run of the season, a porch job the other way, to tie this game at 1-1. 

In the top of the third inning, Warren worked a 1-2-3 inning on just nine pitches. 

Warren served up a leadoff double in the top of the sixth, then picked up the first out of the inning on a groundout to second, allowing the runner to move up to third. Ian Hamilton then replaced Warren on the mound and immediately gave up a two-run home run to Dansby Swanson to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead. 

Will Warren's final line: 5.1 innings pitched, six hits allowed, two earned runs, three walks, seven swings and misses, and just one strikeout on 88 pitches. Warren threw his fastball 40% of the time, the sweeper 27%, the sinker 19%, the curveball 8%, and the changeup 6% of the time. Warren didn't have his best stuff today and was getting hit hard all day long, surrendering 13 hard-hit balls, but did a great job limiting the Cubs to just two runs. 

"Look, I think y'all know we're really high on this team," Warren said. "You know, we had some skids, but I think it's 162 games. If we play, you know, Yankee baseball the way we're supposed to play in this clubhouse, you know, I think we're going to beat a lot of people."

Tim Hill took over for Hamilton on the mound and picked up the first two outs, then gave up a double followed by an RBI infield single from Pete Crow-Armstrong to make it a 4-1 game. Luke Weaver got the call to take over for Hill and picked up the final out of the frame. 

Cody Bellinger, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton went down in order for the Yankees in the bottom of the seventh inning. 

Weaver remained in the game for the top of the eighth inning and had to pick up an extra out due to a boneheaded play from Volpe, where he didn't charge a ball, but no harm, no foul, as Weaver recorded a strikeout to strand two runners on base. 

Volpe, when he was asked postgame if he thought he should have charged the ball, he said, “Yeah.”

"He does that from time to time, where you're trying to create the best possible hop,” Aaron Boone said. 

The Yankees went down in order in the bottom of the eighth inning, as the offense has been almost non-existent the last two games after scoring 11 runs in game one. 

In the bottom of the ninth, Austin Wells, Ben Rice, and Paul Goldschmidt went down in order, allowing the Yankees to end this one 4-1. The Yankees finished the first half 53-43, 2.5 games behind the Blue Jays for first place in the AL East. 

My thoughts on the game: Warren put together a solid start with 5.1 innings pitched of two-run ball, but unfortunately, the offense didn't do him any favors. Weaver and Williams looked great at the back end of the bullpen. Hill and Hamilton weren't great, each giving up a run. Not much more to say about that game; Belli snapped his 17-game hit streak, and Stanton launched his third home run of the year as the Yankees only had three hits. Now, onto the draft tonight and the All-Star break this week, I will post a little something for whoever the Yankees draft tonight, so be on the lookout for that. Thanks to all who have read these recaps in the first half. I’ll be back for the second half starting Friday and might be in Atlanta for the games next weekend. Also, it sounds like Fried blister is healing well and hopefully shouldn't miss a start. 

"Yeah, obviously, you know, happened yesterday,' Fried said. "Still early, but you know, definitely going in the right direction. Definitely feel like it's getting better."